50,000 students at haredi institutions exempted from supervision will study as usual on Independence Day

The law requires a statutory holiday on Independence Day and the schools are funded by the state. Hiddush head Rabbi Regev demands that the Education Ministry ‘make clear to haredi educational institutions that the holiday is mandatory and suspend the funding of any institution that does not honor Independence Day.’

06/05/2011 11:12

Tags: Israel Independence Day · haredim · Hiddush

Haredi shadow and star Photo: Miriam Alistair Flash90

Nearly 50,000 male and female students at ultra-Orthodox institutions exempted from Education Ministry supervision will be studying on Independence Day as on any other. This despite the fact that it contravenes the Independence Day Law, and despite the extensive funding that these institutions get from the Education Ministry’s budget.

The haredi Talmud Torah schools, which are designated as exempt institutions, are independent frameworks that are exempt from the Compulsory Education Law and therefore they are subject to limited supervision and the amount of core curriculum studies taught there is negligible. Despite this they are budgeted by the Education Ministry at 55% of the total per student. Because of various additional funds granted by the government, the sum involved is frequently higher.

In recent decades thousands of new students have transferred to these institutions, and they essentially constitute the core of the haredi school system for boys. A significant share of haredi schools for girls also operates as exempt institutions. The Independence Day Law stipulates that Independence Day is a statutory holiday. Nevertheless, the exempt institutions customarily ignore it and hold classes as usual.

The non-haredi public is not in the least aware of this astoounding phenomenon. Thus an absurd situation is created in which the government supports institutions that do

the government supports institutions that do not recognize the State of Israel’s independence

not recognize the State of Israel’s independence and knowingly disdain its laws. The message these institutions send to students is: Independence Day is an ordinary day like any other.

The head of Hiddush – Freedom of Religion for Israel, Rabbi Uri Regev, demands that the Education Ministry “make it clear to haredi educational institutions that the Independence Day holiday is mandatory and suspend the funding of any institution that does not honor Independence Day.” According to Regev, “ignoring Independence Day illustrates both the anti-Zionist worldview of haredi Judaism and its contempt for the laws of the state. The haredi leaders, who demand that we respect their feelings and faith in each and every matter, callously trample on Independence Day.”

Regev says that, “the haredi parties’ membership in the coalition creates the illusion that they are partners in the national solidarity and the Zionist enterprise. The truth is that it is cynical vote buying. As we prepare to celebrate Independence Day, the time has come to honor Zionism, to show the ultra-Orthodox parties the coalition door, and to form a civil government that will be able to shape the State of Israel in the spirit of the freedom and Zionism set down in the Declaration of Independence.”